Skunk Ape / Bigfoot
Skunk Ape/Bigfoot is the first episode of the first season of Mystery Hunters. Overview Christina is on the lookout for a smelly ape-man lurking in Florida. Araya searches for the elusive Oregon Bigfoot. Doubting Dave makes a footprint cast out of plaster. A viewer notes strange lights over the skies of Mexico. The Mysteries Araya: Bigfoot Bigfoot (also called a Sasquatch) is an alleged half man, half ape creature that roams the Pacific northwest in Canada and the United States. There is no real photographic evidence that bigfoot exists but there it does seem to leave large footprints. Araya travels to Oregon, the heart of Bigfoot country. He teams with a group of Bigfoot hunters, including one guy who guy claimed he saw Bigfoot on a past family trip and his children who claimed to have heard and smelled the creature though they did not actually see it. The Park rangers did find a big footprint in the area where the family was camping but claim the evidence wasn't conclusive to suggest Bigfoot was in fact there. Araya is shown a trap that was aimed at catching Bigfoot but to date has only been able to capture a couple of "angry" bears. While this does seem to suggest Bigfoot might not exist, while back at Discovery Headquarters, Araya notes there have been some animals that had existed for a long time before being discovered by humans. There have also been bones from large apes that were discovered in China with some believing they crossed to North America during the time of the ice bridge. While that specific ape species is now extinct, Araya wonders if Bigfoot might be a relative. He goes back to Oregon where he meets with the Southern Oregon Bigfoot Society to an area where Bigfoot supposedly roams. They find a giant footprint that was likely made within the last few weeks. Araya notes that footprints are often preserved with casts and visits a lab that seems to have a collection of alleged Bigfoot casts. One of the lab workers explains that you can likely tell if a footprint is a fake if it looks unnatural. He believes a lot of the Bigfoot ones though are real. Araya and the society members try to go into the mountains but a rock blocks there past, with Araya suspecting a Bigfoot might be trying to prevent them from finding it. The rock wasn't there a few weeks back and it seems it didn't roll there naturally. They walk further and noticed two trees that were cleanly snapped from the top (bears normally leave claw marks). They play an alleged Bigfoot scream recording on a speaker to try to attract it. This does not appear to be successful though. It is noted by the lab worker that hair has been found in the area that doesn't match anything they have seen. It may or may not belong to Bigfoot. Christina: Skunk Ape Similar to Bigfoot, the Skunk Ape is an alleged half man, half ape creature that is both said to be very tall and very smelly (hence the name skunk ape). Unlike Bigfoot, the Skunk Ape seems to live in Florida. Christina travels to Sarasota, Florida to investigate if it actually exists. The Justice Center there seems to have to have photographs showing the existence of the ape. The photos were sent by mail by an anonymous person who taught someone lost an orangutan but none of those were reported missing at that time. With no idea who sent the photos, the evidence was deemed suspicious. She meets a young girl who claims to see a bear like creature that looked exactly like the photos the Justice Center had. Christina than heads to a creature store where a worker named Dave (not to be confused with Doubting Dave) has looked for the Skunk several times. He has not yet seen it though he thinks he may have smelt it a couple of times. He and Christina explore the Florida Swamps and hang apples from the trees to try to lure him out. The owner has done them in the past and notes the apples do get taken within a few days during nighttime. While Christina notes that it is unknown who actually took the apples, the owner notes it would take a large animal to do so. They depart the area but plan to return when it is dark out. Christina visits the only costume store in the area that sells ape outfits. While they sold nothing that look like what was in the photos, the shopkeeper said ape's face didn't really move and thus suspected the photo was just someone in a costume. Christina then meets with a biologist who claims the photos seems like an orangutan except its eyes are glowing. While small monkeys can have glowing eyes, the big ones don't. He is still skeptic though that it was a real creature though. Once it is dark out, Christina returns to the stakeout site with Dave to see if Skunk Ape will appear and see if she can get footage of the creature. Dave gives a bird call whistle, claiming it might help attract the skunk ape. Nothing happens so Dave suggests they return the next morning. Christina meets with a Florida Ranger who notes that while she never saw a Florida Panther, she says it leaves footprints, thus giving evidence of its existence. This suggests a creature can be real even if it isn't seen. However, the Ranger has not found any prints that could belong to the Skunk Ape. Christina finds poop on a trail but the Ranger suggests it belonged to a creature that eats meat which does not appear to be part of the Skunk Ape's diet. Christina returns to stakeout location one last time where she finds that a single apple has gone missing and that there is a bad smell in the air. Conclusion Araya, Christina and Doubting Dave are back at Discovery Headquarters where Doubting Dave is knitting a sock for Bigfoot as a birthday present if it is real (Dave claims he made them a tie the following year). Dave joking suggests Bigfoot might just be a disembodied foot roaming around the Pacific Northwest. He and Araya conclude though that the one certain thing is things aren't always what they seem. Doubting Dave Segments V Files A viewer from Mexico says that while he and his parents were in an area about an hour and a half from Mexico City, they saw something in the sky that looked like a star and was moving very fast. It was seen moving in one direction one day in the evening and then in the opposite direction in the afternoon on another day. People who were with them claimed they were satellites that were visible from space. The viewer, who believes in aliens, though wanted to know what they actually were. According to Doubting Dave, it was likely a satellite has they move on a steady course and that what the viewer say was likely two different satellites. There are numerous satellites, probes and debris (a porch light ends up falling into the lab while Dave is explaining this) and thus there is a lot of things that one could potentially see in the sky that aren't aliens. Dave notes that organizations like NASA are keeping an eye out for alien activity though there is no evidence yet that they exist. Dave insists he will be skeptic about the existence of aliens until he is abducted (which happens at the very end of the segment to which he comments "I'll be damned"). Mystery Lab Dave is trying to solve a rubix cube but is having no luck. An ape then takes it and solves it in seconds. Dave decides he needs a walk and goes to his flower garden to relax but looks at horror when he sees that someone left a footprint in the garden, crushing some of his flowers. He vows to to find who did using the powers of forensic science. He notes that water can ruin prints and thus it needs to preserved. He proceeds to show how to make one with a mixture of casting plaster and water. The mixture is placed in the print and recites poems about his fish when waiting it to harden. Once it hardens, he goes back to the lab to measure its length and width to see what it might tell of the other physical characteristics of the culprit might have. It seems the culprit is either 9 foot tall and weighs at least 600 pounds or, jokingly, is a 4 foot tall person with clown shoes holding a safe (one happens to walk by as Dave as is hysterically laughing at the thought of the latter). After vowing again he will find the culprit, he is knocked down after being hit with a wrench, apparently from the ape earlier to which he comments "Stupid Monkey". Trivia * This was one of three episodes included on the Mystery Hunters: Beastly Beings and Monstrous Mysteries DVD * First episode directed by either Jean-Louis Cote or Sid Goldberg * First episode written by either David Acer or Ramelle Mair * First appearance of the laser protected video library. * Unlike most later episodes, Doubting Dave's segments aren't given a synopsis before the opening sequence. * First episode were Araya and Christina travel to the United States. Category:Episodes Category:Season 1 Episodes Category:Episodes about Monsters or Creatures Category:2002 Episodes